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Pastoral assistant forced to resign after years of homophobic abuse

Aaron Bianco was continually abuse and threatened by homophobes who found out he was married to a man

2018-10-22

Words: Steve Brown

An openly gay pastoral assistant has resigned after continuous abuse.

Aaron Bianco join St John The Evangelist church in San Diego back in 2016 and during his time there he built up a more inclusive and welcoming church for the LGBT community.

However, ever since he started at St John, Bianco – who has been married to his husband for 10 years - was bombarded by continuous abuse from homophobes.

The hate groups sent emails equalling him to a paedophile and threatened him. His tyres were slashed, fire thrown at the church doors and most recently he office was broken in to and a homophobic slur was written on the walls.

Bianco said: “They’re no different from organised crime or a terrorist group. They will continue until they get their way.

“I’m convinced that the gospel is on my side, and they can spew their hate but I’m not going to allow them to make me hate them back.”

He once claimed he saw someone stood in his garden watching the house after pictures and information of him and his family were published on a Catholic website.

And now, Bianco has resigned from the church in a bid to hopefully protect his family from any harm.

He told the congregation during the service on Sunday (October 21): “My life and those of my family are more important that any job.”

Bianco said he will still keep fighting and will attend the church and hopes the groups stop their attacks and instead come and talk.